Radeon 4350 not able to play hi-def video

[Nvidiaguy07]

So I bought this card to put in my dads computer and he uses it hooked up to this 1080P TV to watch movies.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125251

The reason I got it was because it claims it can handle hi-def video. It does ok sometimes with 720p but 1080p is out of the question. I'd say more times than not it cant even do 720p, I just downloaded the last 6 episodes of 24 in hi-def and they wont play smoothly. The video kinda freezes and then gets all broken up.

Could it be because the rest of the system is so weak? its got a P4 Prescott at 3.4GHz and 2GB of ram in it. Its also running windows 7 ultimate.

Should i try putting xp on there? Or would a lightweight distro of linux work better?

If the cpu isnt the bottleneck then would an upgrade to an 8800GT make it work for sure? I ask this because im debating if i should upgrade my current video card on my computer so my old 8800GT would get passed on to this rig.

Right now I have a Q6600, is it even worth it to upgrade from my 8800GT though? It can handle every game im currently playing. Plus will the Q6600 be holding whatever ~$200 vid card i purchase now back?

 

[Rifter]

I Think the CPU is the problem. I dont think the 4350 offers hardware acceleration of anything but Mpeg 2 and H264. Anything else the CPU has to do and that P4 is seriously outdated.

 

[lopri]

While playing a clip, open Catalyst Control Center or GPU-Z and check GPU load/usage. It should tell you whether GPU acceleration is in action.

 

[faxon]

that CPU is just to slow for what you're doing with it. that card should handle 1080p video just fine, its faster than the ati integrated that's in the 785G chipset and i have a friend using that for blu-ray playback with a phenom 2 965 and it's butter smooth, but the GPU is definitely offloading the work as well cause the cpu is sitting there under 10% load the whole time. i would get your dad a cheap athlon 2/mobo combo somewhere for less than $100 and drop in his ram if it's DDR2, if not make sure you get a DDR3 mobo since it will be cheaper to run, using less power, and both are about the same price online right now. as for your rig, you could definitely see huge benefits from a video card upgrade with your CPU. it will hold back the highest end cards in minimum framerates for sure (5850+), but something like a 5770 would still net you a handily noticeable performance increase and it wont break the bank to boot, definitely worth the upgrade. what i would have done was buy yourself a new card, give your dad the 8800, and buy him a new cpu/mobo/ram as well for about as much as the 5770. all around excellent bang for the buck in the long run

 

[nenforcer]

I think a lot of this depends on the format you are watching the video in.

For instance, the latest version of the Catalyst drivers (10.6?) include specific support for Adobe Flash 10.1 with hardware acceleration.

I doubt this is the format you are watching the downloaded 24 in HD with, so you must make sure it is being hardware accelerated by the video card like Lopri said.

What format did you download the 24 from FOX in? If its some proprietary DRM format it may not be being hardware accelerated.

Are other things hardware accelerated? How about downloading the Avatar trailer in 1080P and playing it with Quicktime Player?

I have an nVidia ION 330 machine and it can't play the .MOV trailer in Windows Media Player without skipping but it can just fine in Apple Quicktime, so the software choice also makes a difference.

 

[nenforcer]

I think a lot of this depends on the format you are watching the video in.

For instance, the latest version of the Catalyst drivers (10.6?) include specific support for Adobe Flash 10.1 with hardware acceleration.

I doubt this is the format you are watching the downloaded 24 in HD with, so you must make sure it is being hardware accelerated by the video card like Lopri said.

What format did you download the 24 from FOX in? If its some proprietary DRM format it may not be being hardware accelerated.

Are other things hardware accelerated? How about downloading the Avatar trailer in 1080P and playing it with Quicktime Player?

I have an nVidia ION 330 machine and it can't play the .MOV trailer in Windows Media Player without skipping but it can just fine in Apple Quicktime, so the software choice also makes a difference.

 

[Voo]

The 4350 only supports MPEG2 and h.264 iirc, so if the videos aren't in that format you've got a problem. Easiest solution? Get the stuff with the right codec, otherwise you either need a GPU that supports more codecs (no idea what the 5series supports) or a better CPU..

 

[Nvidiaguy07]

Im definiely upgrading. My friend has an older computer that he wants to get rid of. Would an Athlon 64 X2 4200+ do the trick? Its got a good mobo with it so im sure i can OC. Hes also throwing in his 7600GT. Should i use that or the 4350?

 

[frostedflakes]

7600GT actually has worse video acceleration than the 4350. It uses an older version of the PureVideo engine and doesn't offload nearly as much from the CPU.

Also, even with a weaker CPU, that 4350 should be able to handle HD video with ease. Make sure you're using a media player that supports DXVA for offloading the decoding to the GPU. I personally use K-Lite Codec Pack w/Media Player Classic, it has an option during the install to enable DXVA for H264 and VC-1 decoding.

 

[Nvidiaguy07]

7600GT actually has worse video acceleration than the 4350. It uses an older version of the PureVideo engine and doesn't offload nearly as much from the CPU.

Also, even with a weaker CPU, that 4350 should be able to handle HD video with ease. Make sure you're using a media player that supports DXVA for offloading the decoding to the GPU. I personally use K-Lite Codec Pack w/Media Player Classic, it has an option during the install to enable DXVA for H264 and VC-1 decoding.

hmmm, I have been using VLC. I tried a bunch of different media players, I think i tried media player classic, but i didnt install the codec pack. I did have divx codec installed though.

Ill try that and report back.

But for is 150 worth it for the cpu i mentioned earlier, m2n-sli deluxe mobo, 2gb ram, 250GB hard drive, corsair 520HX PSU, case and everything? I dont know how outdated this stuff would be considered.

 

[frostedflakes]

DivX is not DXVA. Two completely different things.

Give K-Lite a try, and during installation make sure to check the box to enable DXVA for H264 decoding.

If you still want to upgrade, though, $150 sounds like a pretty good price for the system you mentioned.

 

[Voo]

hmmm, I have been using VLC.

Maybe you should try a player.. that, um, supports GPU acceleration before trying anything else?

 

[zagood]

Maybe you should try a player.. that, um, supports GPU acceleration before trying anything else?

New VLC 1.1
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3786/hd-video-decoding-on-gpus-with-vlc-110

"Videolan supplied the caveat that the experimental GPU acceleration would work only on Nvidia GPUs as of now."

"VLC has taken the important first step towards enabling GPU acceleration for various codecs commonly used in high definition videos. However, they have been crippled by their application structure, resulting in the fact that they are unable to provide the same amount of acceleration as other methods like DXVA using MPC-HC / Windows Media Player. While the untested Arrandale provided around 5% CPU usage improvement for VC-1 decode, PureVideo VP2 had speed-ups of around 60% for H264 and 20% for VC1. PureVideo VP4 turned out to be the best of the lot when GPU acceleration is enabled. CPU usage was lesser by a factor more than 65% for H264 and 36% for VC1."

 

[Lonbjerg]

New VLC 1.1
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3786/hd-video-decoding-on-gpus-with-vlc-110

"Videolan supplied the caveat that the experimental GPU acceleration would work only on Nvidia GPUs as of now."

"VLC has taken the important first step towards enabling GPU acceleration for various codecs commonly used in high definition videos. However, they have been crippled by their application structure, resulting in the fact that they are unable to provide the same amount of acceleration as other methods like DXVA using MPC-HC / Windows Media Player. While the untested Arrandale provided around 5% CPU usage improvement for VC-1 decode, PureVideo VP2 had speed-ups of around 60% for H264 and 20% for VC1. PureVideo VP4 turned out to be the best of the lot when GPU acceleration is enabled. CPU usage was lesser by a factor more than 65% for H264 and 36% for VC1."

The new version is FUBAR in cross-enoding and streaming though..and can reck havok with codecs...an friend of mine had to reisntall his server and revert back to the old version to get things to play nice.

 

[Voo]

New VLC 1.1
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3786/hd-video-decoding-on-gpus-with-vlc-110

"Videolan supplied the caveat that the experimental GPU acceleration would work only on Nvidia GPUs as of now."

Sigh, I knew that would come up, Raymond really is right about the nitpicker's corner..


1. When he started the thread 1.1 wasn't available so he surely used an older version, without acceleration.
2. As you even posted, Ati cards aren't supported, so the whole point is moot in every case.

 

[Binky]

Im definiely upgrading. My friend has an older computer that he wants to get rid of. Would an Athlon 64 X2 4200+ do the trick? Its got a good mobo with it so im sure i can OC. Hes also throwing in his 7600GT. Should i use that or the 4350?

I've got a machine with a 4350 and a Sempron 140 (2.7ghz, dual core unlocked) and it works fine with 1080p material including hulu and youtube. This is a little faster than the 4200+ at 2.7ghz to 2.4ghz, and it has more cache. Even the 4200+ is a pretty old Cpu.